Consumption

Panasonic Viera PZ85U

So we actually got married last weekend (hold for applause).

After you have declared your intention to wed your life ceases to be a series of random interactions and occurrences and the curtain opens on one of the most bizarre and lengthy pieces of theatre you will ever star in.  It's a little like The Truman Show, suddenly people you've never met seem to know you, and there are scripts everyone you meet follows.  Once you have accepted the starring role there are two main choruses, Those Who Have Had A Wedding of Their Own and Those Who Have Not.  The Those Who Haves mainly communicate by projecting their own experience on yours and aren't really speaking to you so much as reminiscing.  It's the Have Nots that are really disturbing, with their bank of appropriately timed throwaway questions.

One of my favorites kicked in about a month before the "big day."  So many people asked me if I was getting nervous I began to get nervous that there was something huge I had forgotten to be nervous about.  I haven't been to many weddings, are there usually firepits and endurance tests?  Did I slipup and invite Malcom McDowell's Caligula to the ceremony?  Am I fresh off boat from Ukraine to meet new American husband?

In the week plus since we've been married it's been, "So, do you feel any different?" and "How's Married Life?"  I have several quippy comebacks for this one such as "It's a lot like shackin' up only with more matching dishes," (for the latter) and "Well, my left hand is a bit heavier now that you mention it," (for the former).

But my favorite comeback is the one in response to "Where did you go for your honeymoon?"  I reply "HH Gregg to buy a giant plasma TV."   The way I see it, you go to the beach and get drunk and sexy for a week and that's it, but with a giant Teevee the honeymoon doesn't have to end anytime soon. 

As with every new relationship there are ups and downs.  We unwrapped the first one we brought home to discover the screen was entirely busted.  After fretting for a night about having signed the receipt that we had inspected it and found it to be in good condition, we returned it to HH Gregg with ease, so thumbs up to them.  Once we got it home, the Husband (no it is not the first time I have said that and it does not freak me out stop asking) hopped on the ol' forums and discovered the "break-in period" of 100-200 hours, which we are still in, so we've got the color settings a little wonky and the contrast all low, but overall it still kicks the ass of anything I've ever had in my home before, especially when we crank up the PS3. 

My only regret is that we discovered ABC has a separate HD channel only moments AFTER the season premiere of Pushing Daisies was over, but marriage is all about sharing sorrows AND joys right?

NFL Mobile

  Don't laugh. What could be more consumpty than live fantasy football stats sent to your phone via text message?

The West Coast is useful for many things, like eternal sunshine and animatronic dinosaurs, but very, very bad for football fans.  I like to sleep in a little on the weekends, and fall asleep to a late game in the Pacific timezone.  Nothing doing.  Indianapolis is doomed to 1:00 kickoffs on CBS, meaning not only do I only see the national games (thank you, Colts, for playing well enough to rate more than a handful of night games a year), even when they're on TV it conflicts with the farmers' market, brunch, walks of shame, you name it.

Enter NFL Mobile.  It's only available to Sprint customers, but it's absolutely the best feature they offer--and it's free if you already have a data plan (who doesn't?).  There are customizable alerts by conference, by team, and by player, which can be further narrowed down into quarters, scores, and injuries.  I can't see my boys in blue every Sunday, but I can hop on the subway and bop down to Hollywood & Vine without worrying about missing any action--big play replays are also available, although you need a smartphone to get anything out of it.  My favorite feature, the fantasy tracker, also keeps me from needing to shell out for premium stat tracking on Yahoo--you can plug in your entire roster in their surprisingly non-pesky interface, and get alerts for only those players.  A little simple math and I know exactly where I am in the standings without spending a sunny California Sunday in front of the laptop peering at a pirated Slingbox stream from Taipei.

NFL Mobile | Sprint | Free with data plan

OmniWeb

When the majority of your work day is conducted via the internet, even little frustrations, tweaks you'd like to see made to your browser add up.  I roll with OmniWeb, a speedy, powerful, aesthetically satisfying program brought to you by the Omni Group.

OmniWeb lends itself to multiple workspaces with the greatest of ease (and can autosave them all), and can run a godzillion open tabs without breaking a sweat.  If you're a visual learner/worker bee, you'll love their tab drawer--you have the option to display them in list form or as resizeable thumbnails. 

Check out some other features or throw down your $14.95 right here.  Yes, it costs money.  Yes, it's only for Macs.  Yes, Firefox 3 just came out, but the OS X upgrade makes it look just like Safari, which is why I fled to Firefox in the first place and I can't be the only one, so until they build some fancy skins you ought to give this a spin.